Donated Berwyn fire engine headed to Texas

Staff photos by Tom Kelly IV
Berwyn Fire Chief Matthew Norris (left) and Chief Engineer David Warlick look at the engine before it departs.
The Berwyn Fire Company donated one of their fire engines, to the West, Texas Fire Department. The truck designated engine 2-1 in Chester County left on a flat bed tractor trailer, Wednesday afternoon, May 8, 2013 on its 1900 mile trip. The truck is being donated, after the fire department in Texas, lost all of their equipment, and five firefighters to the fertilizer plant fire in April. The fire killed 14 people, 10 of whom were emergency responders, and over 200 other people were injured in the fiery explosion. Along with the truck, fire companies from throughout Chester County donated hose, and other firefighting tools to fully outfit the truck, before it departed.

When members of the Berwyn Fire Co. heard about last month’s fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas and the response from its all-volunteer fire department, they wanted to do something.

The West Fire Dept. lost five firefighters and four EMS responders during the April 17 explosion, after they answered the call to extinguish a structure fire at the plant. A Dallas fire/rescue captain also died in the blast, which left 15 dead, 200 injured and many homes and buildings destroyed.

Having sold a ladder engine to a department in neighboring Payne Springs, Texas a couple of years earlier, the Berwyn company reached out to its old contact there to see if his friends at the West Fire Dept., which was founded the same year as Berwyn’s (1894), might like an addition to their fleet.

“We got ahold of them and said, ‘Hey, we want to help, and by the way, we have an older engine that we’re going to move along soon. Do you think they’d be interested?’” Berwyn Fire Co. Chief Matt Norris said.

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The answer was yes, and on Wednesday, Berwyn’s 1983 E-One/Ford C-800 engine was loaded up for a 1,500-mile journey. Known as Engine 2-1, it can carry 750 gallons of water and seats six. It went on thousands of local runs in its 30 years of service, in a reduced capacity over the past decade.

“In the last 10 years or so, it has served in a reserve or backup role,” Norris said. “It hasn’t been a frontline piece for quite some time, but it’s been pressed into service when needed, whether it’s storms or if a piece of equipment was out of service. For us, it’s definitely been time to move on and get something a little more fitting to our needs.”

While a private business has agreed to pick up the $8,600 hauling bill, the Chester County Firefighters Association and fire companies from Avondale, Goshen, Ludwig’s Corner, Kimberton, Paoli, Po-Mar-Lin, Radnor and West Grove all made donations of equipment to outfit the engine. Because more equipment was received than necessary, West Chester-based Quadratec will cover the shipping costs of the overflow.

The fleet vacancy left by the engine’s departure won’t last too long.

“We have ordered the replacement, and it’s under construction right now,” Norris said. “We anticipate delivery around the fourth quarter of this year.”